The headphone amp is incredible; such a huge difference from the Stax transformer unit that came with the headphones. I also heard a pair of new Stax headphones this afternoon on my headphone amp and they are so far beyond the Lambdas that it isn't even funny. I also got to listen to the AKG 701s and, as good as they are (a bit better than my Lambdas with the headphone amp, mostly in the bass) they can't hold a candle to the bigger Stax (at 3 times the price, they better be!)..... guess I know what I'm asking for as a Christmas present ....

BTW, my speaker quest is not quite over yet .... let you know on Monday if I'm able to swing a deal on yet another set of speakers for ......

Well guys, I have a few apologies to hand out right now. Until today I had found the whole idea of dedicated headphone amplifiers to be a ridiculous idea (excuses to TNRabbit and BillD for ever doubting you guys). I've just spent the last 5 hours listening to my Stax Lambdas hooked up to a Stax SRM212 headphone amplifier hooked up to my NAD CDP and I have been moved emotionally by music I have never heard like this before. That was until I hooked up my Oppo to it and then I was litterally reduced to tears by just about everything I listened to.

I can hardly wait for the 2 new sets of speakers and other equipment to arrive next week. I think that I may finally be getting to where I have wanted to be soundwise for all these years.

The grilles are a whole other story so I will have to find some new matching cloth to recover them. One was missing the logo plaque and miraculously, I found a spare one in my box of spare parts along with 3 original grille mounting posts to replace the broken ones. Just one more thing to keep me busy for a few weeks.